Seal for sheet-metal containing vessels.



J. M. HOTHEBSALL. SEAL FOR SHEET METAL CONTAINING vEssELs.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-28, 1912.

Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

JOHN M. HO THERSALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN CANCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

Application filed March 28, 1912. Serial No. 686,811.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. Homer:- SALL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, city of New York, in thecounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Seals for Sheet-Metal Containing Vessels, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in seals for sheet metalcontaining vessels.

The purpose. of the invention is to provide a seal closure which can bereadily broken, which must be broken in the opening of the vessel and inwhich the seal is preferably made of the same material as the vesselitself.

The invention consists in forming at the opening of the vessel animperforate star shaped score which can be ruptured or perforated withany blunt instrument, and which, after being so perforated, cannot bereadjusted to hide the fact that it has been broken and the vesselopened.

In the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a vessel provided with two of myimproved seal openings, one for pouring and the other for vent. Fig. 2is a section of Fig. 1, taken on the line 2-2. Fig. 3 is a plan view ofthe same structure after the seal has been broken. Fig. 4 is a sectionalview on the line 1-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of one of theseals in Fig. 1, said Fig. 5 being upon a somewhat larger scale.

This improved sealed nozzle or closure has the advantage that it doesnot require any extra part to be applied to the ordinary can or vessel,the seal being made of the material of the vessel or nozzle itself. Ithas the further advantage that when the seal has been once ruptured, allof its parts remain attached to the can and it is impossible to readjustor reconstruct the parts in such manner as to hide the fact that theseal has been broken and the vessel opened. It has the further advantageof constituting in itself an opening means for the can or vessel adaptedto furnish an orifice through which the contents of the vessel or canmay be discharged, and which provision is simle, cheap andeasilyoperated, the opening eing one that can be made by simply punching anyblunt instrument into the place of the seal.

In said drawing, A represents any ordinary can or vessel, such as isused for containing milk, oil, syrup, paint, varnish or other likematerial.

B is the ordinary cover seamed to the body.

C is the nozzle, made with an imperforate top D, and uponwhich may befitted, if desired, any ordinary screw cap E.

F is the seal, which consists of a series of scored lines f radiatingfrom a common center and formed in the material of the vessel itselfeither at the nozzle C or elsewhere. The seal is surrounded by abounding wall of the metal of the can, which wall limits the openingproduced by the perforating tool. The seal is preferably formed in adepression of the thin metal top of the can, as shown in Fig. 5, and thebounding wall of this depression limits the breaking of the seal, by atool, along the said scored lines; so that a pouring opening of regularand substantially circular contour may be produced by the wall of thedepression, into which a cork may be inserted to form a removableclosure. The head or other part of the vessel may be provided with oneor more of these scored imperforate sealed openings, so that the vesselmay be opened at various points, as, for example, at the nozzle forpouring, and at another point for vent, as shown in the drawings. Afterthe seal is broken, after the manner shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the vesselcan be closed again by screwing on the cap E or by inserting a cork G,as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, or in case of more than one opening,both these closures may be employed to advantage. Such a double facilityof opening and closure is specially desirable in cans containing oliveoil, which is better kept both from the light and from the air.

The star shaped scoring can easily and cheaply be done as a part of thedie work, or it may be done after the die work is finished by a singlestroke of a suitable tool.

that this seal is not merely form of opening It will be seen a seal, butalso a simple for the can or vessel.

I claim A sheet metal can having a hermetic and perforable closurecomposed of the thin metal integral with a top portion of the can, andformed by radial scores bounded at their outer ends by a wall of the cantop which determines the contour of the per foration; whereby a tool maycause the metal to be broken along the radial scores to form a pouringopening of regular and substantially circular contour, bounded by thesaid wall and adapted to be closed by a removable plug; substantially asspecified. JOHN M. HOTHERSALL. Witnesses: W. D. FOSTER, C. W. GRAHAM.

